It was nighttime. Alia was talking and laughing with her maids when suddenly, Viktor's sisters made a video call his older sister Katrina and younger sister Anna Alexeyevich and then the call connected to Alia as well.
"Hey, what's up?"
As soon as the video call connected, Katrina's eyes held their usual cool and sharp gaze, while younger sister Anna looked on with keen curiosity.
Accepting the video call, Katrina smiled slightly and said, "Hey Alia! What's going on with you? You pulled off such a massive stunt in the Kremlin, and you didn't even let us know?"
Alia adjusted the collar of her coat slightly, a familiar mysterious smile lingering at the corners of her lips as she looked at the screen and replied calmly, "You can see the situation right in front of you, Katrina. I've saved the Kremlin's servers, and now I'm finally getting a moment to breathe."
Little sister Anna leaned close to the camera with an inquisitive expression and said, "Alia Unni, did you really hack into Russia's presidential security system in the blink of an eye? Viktor was saying you completely worked magic!"
Viktor stood nearby, smiling softly. He stepped closer to the screen, looking toward Alia with a playful tease in his voice. "It certainly was magic! She brought the entire country's system to a complete, pin-drop silence all by herself. But you know, if you could've seen the state of the Kremlin guards terrified of her mafia cane, it was quite a sight!"
Alia narrowed her eyes slightly, gazing at Viktor with a cool yet mischievous, subtle smile. "If they lack common sense, what can I do, Viktor? Anyone who dares interfere with my cane or my work gets a taste of what happens—just like that guard found out a little while ago."
Katrina gestured slightly from the screen and said in a serious tone, "Be careful, Alia. International syndicates have caught wind of this news and are starting to stir. It worries me a bit to see you handling things all alone on Russian territory."
"Worries?" Alia laughed lightly, cutting Katrina off. "You don't have time to worry about me, Katrina. Instead, start compiling a list of everyone arrogant enough to try setting traps in my territory."
Anna clapped her hands and exclaimed, "Whoa! That's my Alia Unni's true style! No one stands a chance against you."
Viktor looked deeply into Alia's eyes with tender affection, saying in a soft voice, "Alright, you don't need to talk to them anymore. Get some rest, my little kitten."
Both Katrina and Anna burst out laughing together at Viktor's remark. On the screen, Viktor's possessive yet deeply affectionate gaze combined with Alia's confident persona to create a uniquely thrilling atmosphere. Even after the video call ended, that lingering warmth of family banter and raw power remained heavy in the frozen night air. Right at that moment in the video call, little sister Anna smiled mischievously, looked at Victor, and said, "Brother, can you step away from the screen for a bit? I need to have a private chat with our Bhabhi (sister-in-law)."
As soon as Anna called her Bhabhi, Katrina on the other side of the screen smiled gently and nodded in agreement. Faking a look of surprise, Victor furrowed his brows, though a hint of an affectionate smile played around the corners of his eyes. He glanced at Alia once and gently moved the phone a little further away so the two sisters could talk freely with Alia.
Pulling the screen toward herself, Anna winked mischievously at Alia and said, "Yes Bhabhi, tell me now! Ever since you hacked that high-security Kremlin system, does brother give you a hard time, or are you having a great time since you got good people like us?"
With her signature cool and confident demeanor, a faint smile played on the corners of Alia's lips as she replied, "Who has the audacity to give me a hard time, Anna? But yes, I do need to check in from time to time to see what kind of schemes are running through your brother's head."
Katrina then spoke in a slightly serious yet affectionate tone, "Handling him is entirely your responsibility now, Alia. The way he is constantly consumed by thoughts of you makes it seem like he has completely forgotten about himself."Operation St. Petersburg: The Shadow Network's Shadow
1. The Sudden Twist in the Video Call
The freezing Moscow night was still and heavy, like snow flurries frozen on the windowpane. Except for the light glowing from the laptop screen, the rest of the room was shrouded in deep darkness. Victor, Anna, and Katrina had connected via a video call from three different screen edges. Right then, the atmosphere of the video call shifted in a single jerk. Anna stopped her mischievous smile and sat up a bit straighter, and at that exact moment, Katrina's voice tone and facial expression turned supremely serious and cold.
Sitting on the other side of the screen, Katrina looked directly into Alia's eyes without any beating around the bush and said in a cold, firm voice, "Alia, the reason behind suddenly adding you to this video call and calling you right now is not ordinary at all. We have to step out into the field tonight for a special reason. The two of us—meaning me and Anna—are heading directly into the field for an extremely risky underworld mission. The target is a place where the dark web network and security system are not child's play for ordinary hackers."
Katrina paused slightly and looked on with cold eyes, as if measuring every flicker of Alia's reaction. Then she came straight to the point, saying, "You already know how much turbulence has been going on in this underworld ever since we hacked that high-security Kremlin database. And the one we have to face in this mission is no ordinary criminal—he is the underworld's most dangerous, ruthless, and cold-blooded mafia boss in Europe. His name is Christopher Volkov, but in the dark circles of this underworld, everyone knows him as the 'Handsome Mafia Boss.' That is because a diabolical mentality hides beneath his elegant aristocratic looks. The moment he gets a slight chance, he can destroy our entire network."
Alia was leaning back in her chair with her signature cool and confident demeanor. A hint of a mysterious smile played on the corners of her lips. Hearing Christopher's name from Katrina, Alia narrowed her eyes slightly and said in a soft voice, "Handsome Mafia Boss Christopher Volkov? The one whose bounty from Interpol to intelligence agencies in three European countries hasn't even been fixed? Tell me, Katrina, why are you two single-handedly jumping into the jaws of this abyss? Did you think you would handle this underworld chaos all by yourselves?"
Katrina shook her head slightly and replied in a clear voice, "This is precisely why we need you, Alia. We know that stepping into the field for this mission means walking straight into the jaws of death. And precisely for that reason, I cannot take this risk alone or with just Anna. You know very well that unless the power of the three of us comes together, reaching the ending of this game is impossible. So let me make it clear the three of us will go on this mission together. This operation is not just my or Anna's individual war; it is the battle for the existence of our Shadow Network."